Alright, so remember how I said that if a couple of things ‘pan out’ this week I’d put it/them up on the site? Well one has panned out. So there’s good news and bad news.

Bad news: I may be staying in India longer than 3 months. Yeah.. kinda sucks about not seeing/talking to my homeys in the US for that long, but the good news is the reason why…

Good news: I got a job. It’s the accent trainer job that I mentioned before I left, and I’m getting paid pretty good money. Computer engineers make Rs. 10,000-12,000 a month, and I’ll be making Rs. 21,000 a month. Not too shabby, and that’s the starting rate. Of course when you convert it to US Dollars, it’s not exactly the best of numbers, but it’s enough to make a good living around here and live comfortably. Okay fine, a little MORE than just comfortably. Plus, I’m starting to really dig the place, even though I’ve made no friends. I have family, but that’s it. Hopefully this job will help out a bit.

Aight, this place is getting stuffy again, so I’m out. Peas.

Grr. I can’t sleep. And I completely blame Vinod for this one. He told me today that his bed had bedbugs in it. They bite, he claimed. And they cause you to itch.

Now I can’t sleep.

Anytime I feel something move (it’s only been air so far), I think it’s one of those things crawling all over me. Onto other news:

The other day I was in an autorickshaw. A standard ride was what I expected. After a bit, the man decides to put on some of his music. ‘Great’, I thought, ‘like we need some dude’s input on what to listen to’. And then it began. Rich, bellous bass resounding from this tiny little auto. I mean, this stuff was enough to make both Levi and Daman (two car audio buffs) to shame. His music was even more amazing: high-paced techno. I turned around to see that this guy had installed subwoofers in this thing. Never judge a book by its cover, I suppose.

On another music note, I went back to Kerala (my mother-state, I suppose) this past weekend. Vinod and I were riding with two of his former classmates from college. At first, they had on some Hindi music, which I found terribly mundane. This all changed when in a few seconds, something else came on. New music. That’s right in a barely-there Sanyo car (did someone even know that these guys made cars??) going from Ernakulam to Othera, in Kerala, INDIA, I was jammin’ out to P.I.M.P by 50 Cent. It changed slightly when we went to listening to In Da Club a little while later. Wow.

I’ve got some things I’m working on this week, but I’ll post them on the site later, if they turn out successful.

Last,

Quote of the Day

“Girls like big asses, right?”

Vinod, when we were talking about what girls like in men.

Quote of the Day

“I like men at E.P.– Earning Potential.”

-Niyati

Now this is an awfully early time for me to wake up, isn’t it? Well, the truth is, I never went to sleep.. at all. Why? Because I was reading Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. If you don’t know, he also wrote The DaVinci Code. I got DaVinci Code for Christmas, and I finished that in one night. I got this yesterday and I finished it in one night. It might be safe to say that I enjoy this author. So now I’m in the situation of wondering whether I should get a few winks of sleep until 9:30 (church) or just stay awake. Hmm..

So there are mail order brides, right? You know, you start talking to some chick in Russia or something who is desperate to come to the U.S. for a green card, with the hopes that there’s a connection. If there is, you marry her, blah blah blah. Ideally it’s a way to help a really desperate woman to come to the US, and really desperate guys (who can’t get women here) to make a love-match. Or something. That’s until I met this site for mail-order husbands. It’s the same thing as the mail-order brides thing, except the women get to choose who they want. You’ve GOT to check it out.

So an Amish kid died Wednesday when he was trying to remove an electrical cord that was stuck on his buggy’s wheels. Does anyone else find this ironic?

I was just talking to my friend Astri and I realized, with one week to go before India, that I haven’t properly explained what I’m going to be doing there.

*NOTE: THIS IS ALL TENUOUS AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY POINT*

There are three things that I’m looking at right now, and all of the things I’m going to mention are IF everything works out. Since I’ve given two full disclaimers, I guess I can begin with what I hope will happen.

The Movie

The number one reason for going to India is to shoot a movie. The director/screenwriter of the film is a family friend, and he has said that he’ll include me. Now if that means that I’ll be Village Boy #3 or if it’s a more substantial role, I don’t know. As I have more details, I’ll post them. Either way, all I’m hoping for is a few lines. On top of that, the movie is going to be distributed internationally, so there’s a good chance that it’ll make it to The States.

An Agent

I have gotten some contact information for an agent/ad agency owner in Bangalore, where I’ll be staying for a while. If this means that I have some acting work while I’m there, wonderful. I’d love to keep myself busy.

Accent Neutralization

You know how when you call IBM(for instance) with a tech support question, the call center ends up in India? Well these people sometimes need help with neutralizing their thick Indian accents to something that Americans can understand. Plus, they also need some skills in understanding the wide array of American dialects. (When I first got to America and heard the thick Southern accent.. whew!) This is a niche that I hope to fill. I have a few contacts there, but this is DEFINITELY something that I’m hoping for because the details are up in the air. Plus, I love helping people anyway, so this provides an ample opportunity.

And that’s what I’ve got so far. Suffice it to say that I’ll be updating the info as often as I can, and being able to say if there are some aspects that are working out, and others that are not. Alright, I’m out for now.

INSANE story from Donna. She went to the city rescue mission, where there are a lot of homeless people (obviously). So there she is, trying to help these people out and.. you know what? Just read the email she sent.

” went to the city rescue mission yesterday…downtown…and i got a couple of stories…first of all i loved helping those ppl…as 25 of us walked in one of the homeless guys goes….wow…it looks like Abu-Gharib just let loose…?!?..can u believe that?? and then another guy asked if i should cover my face since its against my religion to reveal it…and i kindly informed him that i was christian…and then another guy asked my sisters…what church we went to …and we’re like 1st Indian Pentecostal Church on 10th and council…and he goes…oh is that the church with all the terror cells????….WHAT THE…these ppl where crazy….and abt a million of them hit on all of us…one guy was like “i need some spiritual healing..and hugs…and….”…and another guy…abt as old as my dad…comes up to me and he was like “sweetie are u married…and i was like no…and he was like whats ur name…and i was like…donna…and then he goes…what’s ur address…and i jus smiled…and he’s like ” u need to quit lookin so good…i’m VERYYY single…AND VERY interested..and definitely NOT married…and then he goes..is ur bf here?..and he answered his own quest and goes…”i hope not”….i was like that’s nice and slowly walked away…and then later he saw my sisters and i standin together…and he was like “triplets???…and mann all y’all look good too…i must’ve done died and gone to heaven…”…eventful day i tell ya…”

WHOA.

Guess what I got today? I’ll tell ya. An iPod- the Special U2 Edition. To be totally honest, I’m not a huge U2 fan. I mean I respect them and all, but I don’t go out and buy every one of their albums, like Kim does. Now how I GOT the damn thing is a whole other ordeal (apparently a regular 20GB iPod is no longer in service or something.. and they’re sold out everywhere.. blah blah). As a result, I got one of their remaining U2 iPods for $25. Add a carrying case, and you’re good to go. I definitely know that it’ll come in handy on the lonnnnnng plane ride to India. Plus, I’m taking my software with me by using it as an external hard drive. Not too shabby.

Now that I’ve spent MORE than enough time on the iPod, I’ll sign off.

On another note, Erica isn’t coming to Norman. Should I really be all that surprised? I’ll tell ya– I’m not. (In case you can’t tell, I’m pissed.)

But boy howdy.. that iPod suuuuure puts ya in a good mood.

Hmm.. no email back from the Klan. Are they onto me and my alter ego “Matt Dickerson”? I doubt it. With a collective IQ of 12, I’m sure that’s not the reason. It might be recruiting season.

You know how tech people get this stereotype that they’re nerds and geeks? I’d like to say that this writer, a tech writer for Newsweek is the epitome of it. I’d also like to submit that he’s never gotten laid in his life.

Tech Geek galore!

Whoooo. Finally got the courage to read some articles today… sports-related… Orange Bowl related.. it wasn’t pretty. Most of them just focused on USC’s dominance, etc. That’s well and good, I don’t mind. And then came those that focused on OU being unfit to be in a national championship game, etc. In fact, I believe there were the words “Choklahoma,” and, “poser,” included in there. Ouch.

But hey, that’s to be expected. As I sit here asking, “WHY,” I’m sure Bob Stoops and Jason White are seeking solace with their significant others asking the same thing. Wondering if they could just do something different. If it was their fault. And perhaps more importantly, what to do now. And that’s the next step for Bob Stoops at least. Figure out what to do next. He’s obviously a great recruiter. He’s obviously a great coach. But for the last two BCS bowls, we have been routed. Not defeated, routed. Very difficult for OU fans to watch. My friend Matt said that it seems as if Stoops needs to go back to the drawing board and start from the basics. Defense, defense, defense. Our offense was amazing this year, no question about it. But our defense, oh howdy our defense. Never in Stoops’s tenure here have we been chastised about our defense and here it is, coming to fruition.

I’ll be posting more, trying to get some answers to what happened in the Orange Bowl. I need to vent somewhere.

NOW SOMETHING POSITIVE:

Ashlee Simpson (shudder) performed at the game yesterday, and as usual, she was very odd. At the end of the performance, she got booed (!) offstage with taunts of, “You suck!” Check the article..

Ashlee Simpson’s vocal malfunction-

Making viewers long for the days of Janet Jackson’s breast

Ahh.. some laughs after all of this. Sweet respite.

I think there are about 4 minutes to go, and they scored again. I’ve stopped watching. Any chance we had to redeem ourselves and not look like we lost by a landslide is also gone; USC is having fun toying with our secondary and burning us. Even on 4th and 1 on the 5, they did a pass instead of a field goal. But I suppose you can do that if you want to; I’m not going to hold it against them.

And I’m out. I hope I get in touch with Angel tonight– I want to watch Bad Santa once more. It’ll be the only thing that can get this horrific night out of my mind.

Okay, an hour and a half until the National Championship Game where OU takes on USC in the Orange Bowl. I really shouldn’t be this nervous, but the main reason is that I watched OU get demolished last year in the Big 12 Championship and the Sugar Bowl. As a result, I know we can lose. Plus we’ve got some questions in our secondary, blah blah blah. I need to make this clear though– USC is not without its faults either. Their wide receivers are just freshmen who haven’t been used all that much, etc. etc.

Basically, this game comes down to intangibles. Who wants it more. I say OU does, and let’s hope I’m right.

Since I’ve taken forever to write this post (because I’m talking to like, 3 other people online), I’m gonna sign off. Now only 1:15 left ’till the game. I’m about to puke.

Quote of the Day

“Unfortunately, stupidity is not painful.”

-Alex